The present invention pertains to a wheel balancing device and more particularly to a device of this nature which is adapted to balance a wheel while it is mounted on a vehicle.
Sustained high speeds on modern, smooth highways have increased the demand for fine, accurate wheel balancing. The new performance, wide profile and radial ply tires require precise static and dynamic balance to eliminate troublesome vibrations of the vehicle.
Older types of wheel balancing devices require the wheel and tire assembly to be removed from the vehicle prior to balancing. This type of device has the disadvantage of requiring dismounting of the wheel from the vehicle and remounting thereof after the balancing operation, necessitating additional time and labor.
Newer types of wheel balancing devices are adapted to balance a wheel while it is mounted on the vehicle. One type of on-the-wheel balancer includes a disc-like mechanism clamped to the wheel. This device is operable to dispose weight at selective locations about the tire and thus to direct the placement by the operator of permanent weights to the locations indicated, once the optimum location and amount of weight required is determined. The disadvantages of this type of balancer are that a plurality of clamps are required to adapt the disc mechanism to the various sizes of conventional wheels and the possibility that the discs may be secured to the wheel "off-center" and result in an inaccurate balance.
Another type of on-the-wheel balancer device includes a strobe lamp synchronized to conform to the RPM's of the rotating wheel by a probe disposed under and in engagement with the A-frame of the vehicle. The inherent disadvantages with this type of balancer is the need for a probe, the inconvenience of adjusting the probe under the suspended wheel to engage the A-frame, and the inability to accurately adjust the strobe to conform to the RPM's of the wheel when the wheel is nearly in balance.
The wheel balancing device of this invention is adapted to overcome all of the hereinbefore known and above-described disadvantages in addition to providing a faster, more accurate and cheaper device and method of balancing a wheel mounted on a vehicle.